A Day At the Beach
by Puppets Blizzt
Summary: 1981-2006. Luke and Lorelai meet at Harvey's beach. Luke remembers, but Lorelai doesn't. Accompanied by a slightly different version of the scene in A Vineyard Valentine. One-shot.


This idea is one of my headcanons that's been in my head for a little while. I got to thinking about Harvey's beach and how the age difference between Luke and Lorelai would definitely make it possible for them to be at Harvey's beach at the same time but not remember. I think there's a five year age difference between them, give or take, so... this is the result of that. c:

As for _Little White Life_, if any of you have read that, I'm working on the second chapter and it'd be finished if not for the fact that I'm so picky and what I need to happen... isn't looking like it's gonna happen with the way it's going. As such, I may have to do a complete rewrite. I am working on it, though. Also, for _Love, Letters, and Firelight _readers... I'm working on that, too. xD

This is just a little one-shot I wanted to do. ^^

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gilmore Girls.

* * *

_**June, 1981**_

Junior High was fast approaching. Lorelai Gilmore had just finished her sixth year of schooling which meant, naturally, that the seventh was just around the corner. The seventh year would be a big step for the students; they would attend a new school and their classes would be very different. Lorelai had previously been accustomed to five classes a day, but now she would have seven; and instead of having classes with the same students, each class would bring new faces.

Lorelai was nervous, to say the least. Like all children, she feared being separated from the friends she had made. She feared separation from Christopher, her friend of seven years. She feared separation from Anna, her friend for the past three years. The thought of being without her friends terrified her.

One of her newer friends, Patricia Dawson—Trish for short—went to the beach every year with her family. As celebration for finishing the first leg of their education, and in celebration of Trish's thirteenth birthday, her parents allowed her to invite a friend to accompany them. Trish had asked Lorelai.

Lorelai hadn't known Trish for very long, but the two had become relatively close. For the past several weeks, they had done nearly everything together; Lorelai often spent time at Trish's house because hers was so lifeless and confining. When Trish asked Lorelai if she wanted to go, she hadn't hesitated; instead, she had cheered. Lorelai's house was unbearable over the school year, but even more so over the summer. Maids were fired more frequently because they were given more opportunity to screw up, and events were more frequent because Lorelai no longer had school to prevent her from attending. Asking her parents if she could go proved easier than Lorelai had thought, and before she knew it she was on her way to Harvey's beach.

She had never been to the beach before, and the prospect excited her. People talked about the pristine sand and the clear waters, but for thirteen years it was just a legend to Lorelai. She imagined families laughing and splashing in the water. She imagined sinking her feet into the sand, the tiny grains molding around her feet and encasing her in bliss. She imagined finding beautiful shells and eating delicious seafood. It was heaven compared to her home in Hartford.

"You're gonna love it, Lorelai." Trish promised.

Lorelai said nothing in response; she didn't know what to say. She simply watched the scenery fly by as they drove. They were close—less than ten minutes away. To Lorelai, those ten minutes were pure torture. For the first time in her life, Lorelai was not burdened by the pressure to be prim and proper and perfect. Though Trish came from her world, her life was much different from Lorelai's; her family laughed and joked the whole time, stirring a sense of jealousy in Lorelai.

She was suffocated at her own home. She was taught proper spacing and distance rather than love and affection. She was taught that she could do nothing for herself and that maids were there to do her bidding. She was taught that she would never have to work for anything; it would be handed to her on a silver platter. She hated that life. She had always been independent. She liked to do things for herself and she didn't like to accept outside help. She felt chained down in the Gilmore household, something that she didn't feel now as she sat reclined in the backseat of Trish's family car. Her parents' voices were not echoing constantly in her head and, for once, she felt like a normal thirteen-year-old.

They had left Hartford early in order to spend the entire day at the beach, and the car pulled into the parking lot just as the sun began to rise. The five of them—Lorelai, Trish, Trish's parents, and Trish's little brother—began to unload the car and trekked their way to the shore.

"So?" Trish asked, "What do you think?"

Lorelai looked around. The beach wasn't as white as she had imagined, and the water wasn't as clear as she had hoped. Still, it was a beach. The sand was littered with broken shells that threatened to impale her feet if she wasn't careful, but the roaring waves soothed her into contentment.

The beach wasn't perfect, but neither was she.

"I love it," she smiled.

Together, they raced towards the water and stood side by side as the waves crashed around their knees. They laughed, holding hands as best friends did. Then they ran back to Trish's family and helped set up the tent.

"Let's go see if there are any shells!" Trish suggested.

"Okay!" Lorelai shed the giant t-shirt and shorts she was wearing, revealing a bright blue bathing suit underneath. After Trish did the same, the two friends hurried to the shoreline.

* * *

Ten years ago, Luke Danes was about to have a baby brother. At eight years old, a baby brother was exactly what he wanted. He had a six-year-old sister, but she was not nearly as fun to be around. With a brother, he could do brotherly things: play football, baseball, talk… a baby brother had been his dream. He had come so close ten years ago. But his mother died during labor, and his baby brother didn't survive either.

It had been ten years since his mother died. Ten years without her melodious laughter echoing through the house. Sometimes, though, he thought he could hear her late at night when he was staring at the ceiling. Not much had changed in those ten years; his father, William, had learned to run the house without her. They adjusted.

Of the children, it had been hardest on his sister, Liz. By age 14, she had already begun experimenting with various drugs and alcohol. She sought escape from a world without her mother—she sought a way to numb the pain. William had tried to reel her back in, but she was uncooperative. She threatened to run away more than once, but she never did. Luke was the only one who had some sort of effect on her. She still respected and admired her big brother, and on good days, he was able to prevent her from drinking or smoking for a full twenty-four hours. That was as close as he had gotten, though, before she began to slip further.

Today they were trying something different. William and Luke had planned a day trip to a beach twenty minutes south of their quaint town of Stars Hollow. Harvey's beach, it was called. They had hopes that Liz would be a normal teenager for one day and play in the water like she had as a kid, before Kathleen had passed.

Liz wasn't pleased. She muttered angrily under her breath with her arms folded across her chest as William drove his family the twenty minutes to the beach.

"I don't wanna go to the beach," she complained.

"Just for one day, Lizzy. You can live one day without your friends," William sighed patiently.

_And smoking and drinking_, Luke added angrily. He loved his sister, but the number of times she found herself in trouble was astonishing. Even when he was her age he hadn't been that bad. But he knew a lot of it had to do with his mother; he loved her a lot, too, but Liz had always been particularly fond of her, while Luke often followed in the shadow of his father. It was unusual, for typically a father and daughter were far more connected. But six-year-old Liz had loved Kathleen dearly, and the loss of her mother at such a young age impacted her significantly more than it had eight-year-old Luke.

Liz sighed deeply and turned her gaze to the window.

After just 20 minutes, Danes clan arrived at the beach. As soon as the car stopped, Liz slid out of the car and stormed towards the beach.

"Don't go too far!" William warned.

She didn't respond, and William looked at Luke with a sad smile.

"I'll try and keep an eye on her," Luke promised.

"Thanks, Luke."

Luke nodded and walked after his sister slowly. But a smile crept onto his face when he saw her at the edge of the water, staring at the horizon. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, spinning her around as she squealed in surprise.

"Luke! Put me down!" but she was laughing, so he didn't.

"Gotta say 'please,' Liz," he teased.

"Please! Please, please, please!"

"And?"

"You're the best big brother in the world," she tried to hold her laughter in as he attacked her stomach with dancing fingers. He released her as she said this, smiling broadly. "You're mean."

"What was that?" he asked, threatening to tickle her again.

"Nothing, nothing," she said quickly. She smiled. "Hey Luke?"

"Yeah, Liz?"

"Do you miss Mom?" she had fallen quiet again, gazing out at the vast ocean.

"All the time," he confided.

She nodded and walked up the beach, leaving Luke on his own. He knew that she wanted to be alone now, whether it was because she was missing their mother more or simply because she wanted to go home. He watched her leave, worry flickering across his face. It had been ten years, but it felt like ten days. It didn't help that the anniversary of her death—and the death of baby Tyler—had been just last week.

He would have been ten years old and starting fourth grade. His mother would still be alive. They'd be here now, laughing and chasing each other down the beach.

He heaved a sigh and turned away.

* * *

"Your turn," Trish giggled.

"Is he watching?" Lorelai asked. Trish looked over her shoulder at the guy working the snack stand.

"Not yet…" she waited until he seemed to turn in their direction. "Now!"

Lorelai did a cartwheel, laughing as she rolled down the slight incline on the beach. She stood up and brushed herself off, grinning like the Cheshire Cat when he gave them a small wave.

"He saw, he saw!" Lorelai laughed as she and Trish waved back. They proceeded with their cartwheels until it was time for lunch. After they ate, they resumed trying to catch his attention, laughing hysterically.

It was nearly two in the afternoon, and the sweltering heat made Lorelai feel like she was on fire. She and Trish ran back to the tent for a break.

"Do we have any more water?" Trish asked.

"No," Karen, Trish's mother, replied, "you and Lorelai can go to the snack stand, though and see if they have anything. Here…" she dug around in her bag for some change. They didn't think they'd need that much food and drinks, but the unusual heat drained their supplies quickly. Karen handed her all the change she could find and hoped it would be enough.

"Thanks," Lorelai smiled, "Come on."

The line for the snack stand was ridiculously long, and while one stood in line, the other did cartwheels to attract Snack Stand Boy's attention again. They rotated every three customers.

"You two look like you're having fun," he grinned as they approached the counter.

"Oh, yeah," Trish grinned shyly. "We're just…"

"We're practicing for _Annie_. We're two of the orphans," Lorelai nodded seriously.

"Oh yeah?" Trish nodded. "What'll you have, then?" he asked with a laugh.

"One water, please," Trish replied.

"One dollar."

Lorelai dumped the change she had on the counter and he began to count.

"Twenty… fifty… fifty-five…seventy… eighty-five…" he stopped short. "I'm afraid you're fifteen cents short."

"What?" Lorelai asked, horror-struck. She needed that water. "Could you count again to make sure?"

So he did. And still, they were fifteen cents short.

* * *

Luke watched the two girls with amusement. He stood behind them in line, and every time one came back to take the other's place, he would hide his laughter with coughing.

But when the dark-haired one mentioned _Annie_, he burst into laughter. She turned around.

"What?" she asked critically.

He stared down at her bright blue eyes, which seemed brighter because of her blue bathing suit, and struggled with an appropriate response. "Nothing, sorry. I just… saw… never mind."

She stared at him strangely before turning back and dumping the handful of change onto the counter. Then he watched as the boy counted the change, impatience gnawing at his insides. The heat made him impatient. His hunger made him twice as impatient. But the nearer he got to one dollar, the fewer coins lay on one side of the counter.

_She doesn't have enough_, he thought as the boy muttered "sixty" under his breath.

"Could you count again to make sure?" she asked him, and he began to do so. But Luke knew she didn't have enough, and counting again wouldn't make another fifteen cents magically appear.

"Here," he dug in his wallet for fifteen cents and thrust the change onto the counter.

The girls turned towards him in surprise.

"Um… thank you," the dark-haired girl said softly.

"It's nothing," he shrugged. It was hot, they were thirsty. How could he not help them out?

"I'm Lorelai and this is Trish," she offered.

"It was nice to meet you both," he said, "enjoy the rest of the day."

Clearly they weren't going to get his name, and they hurried off without another word.

_Lorelai_. That was a strange name. He had heard many strange names back in Stars Hollow, but Lorelai... it was different. Not a bad different, just... different. He watched them hurry back to a large tent and rolled his eyes. They were rich kids. Snobby little rich kids who didn't even have enough change for a bottle of water. They probably would have had to have asked the guy to break a hundred. With that, he stepped forward to order and shoved the encounter to the back of his mind.

* * *

"He was nice," Trish said as they walked away. "And kinda cute."

Lorelai shook her head, "not as cute as Emilio."

"Who?"

"Doesn't he look like Emilio Estevez? He was in those episodes of _Insight_."

* * *

**_Valentines Day, 2006_**

"It must have been Harvey's beach. The last time I was there I was eighteen," Luke said thoughtfully. He remembered that day, barely. He had met a young girl there named Lorelai, but… surely she wasn't the same Lorelai sitting before him now. There had to be plenty of other Lorelais in the world, right? He made a mental note to do some research later.

"I was there, when I was a kid, I used to go with my friend Trish and her family. It had that snack stand where the cute boy worked. Remember? He looked like Emilio Estevez."

_Trish_. He knew that name. He blinked rapidly. He and Lorelai had met over twenty-five years ago? He didn't remember much from that day, but he did remember giving Trish and Lorelai fifteen cents for a bottle of water. That had been his weird day when he was abnormally polite to everyone.

"I remember the snack stand," he admitted, "not Emilio."

"We used to do cartwheels to get his attention," Lorelai mused.

Oh, yeah. He remembered that, too. They took turns while one waited in line. And then… something about _Annie_…

"I remember my sister picking up someone's cigarette butt behind that stand and smoking it," he said.

"Ew!" she scrunched her nose in disgust, and Luke chuckled. She was adorable when she did that.

"We could have been there at the same time on the same day. Isn't that weird?" he asked slowly. There was no way she could have remembered him—he hadn't even given them his name—but there was a slim chance she might recognize him now with the memories so fresh in her mind.

"Nah, we never were," she shook her head.

"How do you know?" he asked, almost hurt by her immediate response.

"_You _would have distracted me from the snack-stand guy," she purred, "And no guy ever did." She leaned over the bed and cupped his jaw in her hand, guiding him towards her for a kiss.

Their lips met with a fierce passion, and as they broke apart, Luke spoke quietly, his words barely audible.

"You owe me fifteen cents."

* * *

The end! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. c:

Hannah


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